By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-11-14 04:01:24 | Updated at 2024-11-23 21:14:35
1 week ago
BioNTech, the German developer of a widely used mRNA vaccine for the coronavirus, agreed to pay US$800 million (HK$6.24 billion) to buy biotech company Biotheus, a developer of cancer drugs.
In a statement on Wednesday, Mainz-based BioNTech said it signed a definitive agreement to pay mostly cash for 100 per cent of Biotheus, which is based in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.
BioNTech said the deal will support its push into the development of cancer drugs using its proven mRNA technology, in addition to other methods including cell and protein-based therapeutics.
In particular, the drug candidate BNT327/PM8002 developed by Biotheus will be a key area of focus after the deal closes. Last year, BioNTech obtained the exclusive global development and commercialisation rights for the drug candidate outside China.
“We are committed to advancing its research and development in combination with our investigational mRNA vaccines, targeted therapies and [immunity-boosting drug treatments] with the aim of enhancing outcomes for patients with solid tumours,” said Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech.
The drug candidate has the potential to be more effective than the current generation of drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors, which restore the capability of patients’ compromised immune systems to recognise and kill cancer cells.
China, the world’s second largest pharmaceutical market after the US, was estimated to have had about 4.82 million new cancer cases and 2.57 million cancer deaths in 2022, according to a paper published in March by researchers at the National Clinical Research Center for Cancer.
